How do I load kernel modules at boot time?

/etc/modules file contain the names of kernel modules that are to be loaded at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with “#” are ignored.Parameters can be specified after the module name$ cat /etc/modules Sample outputs:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.

#

# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded

# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

# Parameters can be specified after the module name.

firewire-sbp2

loop

However, modern Linux distribution uses the following location or configuration directory/file for modprobe kernel device driver:

/etc/modprobe.conf file

/etc/modprobe.d/ directory

How do I install latest kernel version?

Find out if latest version available or not via following command:apt-cache search kernel-image| grep VERSION An example to see if 2.6.xx.xx series new kernel available or not (Debian Linux):apt-cache search kernel-image| grep 2.6 Compare version with existing running kernel if it is greater than running kernel, run following command to install new kernel (run it as a root user and assuming that 2.6.12.1 is latest the kernel available): apt-get install linux-image-2.6.12-1-386

How do I build modular kernel?

You can built modular kernel by setting option in kernel configuration option:Enable loadable module support (CONFIG_MODULES) [Y/n/?] If you set above option to Y then kernel becomes modular and three possibilities occurs for each and every feature/driver:

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